Carole Mortimer Romance Collection - Carole Mortimer

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all move on, Liam back to his own world, Juliet in search of hers. Because the truth would push her and Liam even further apart…

      ‘If we’re going to have this talk I suggest we all go into the sitting-room,’ Liam said briskly. ‘We may as well at least be comfortable.’

      Juliet didn’t think being comfortable was going to make the next few minutes any easier. Quite frankly, she would rather not have this conversation at all!

      ‘So,’ Liam prompted when they were all seated. ‘What is this momentous revelation you want to make concerning my brother, Janet?’ he said mockingly. ‘Believe me, nothing you could tell me about him would surprise me!’

      The housekeeper frowned. ‘Probably not,’ she agreed. ‘But before I talk about Simon I want to dispel one other myth you seem to have made up in your mind. Juliet and your father were never anything more than friends. I know that,’ she added firmly as Liam would have made some scathing comment, ‘because your father shared my bed every night for the last twenty years of his life. Yes, Liam.’ She gave him a rueful smile. ‘I know you always suspected. Well, now I’m telling you that your suspicion was correct. I loved William. And he loved me.’

      Liam frowned. ‘Then why…?’

      ‘Didn’t we marry?’ Janet finished knowingly. ‘Because I wouldn’t marry him. Oh, not because I didn’t love him enough. Never that,’ she added emotionally. ‘But I was the housekeeper here, not the mistress.’

      Liam stood up forcefully. ‘From the sound of it you were mistress in everything but name! My father should have—’

      ‘Your father respected my decision, Liam. He never understood it, but he respected it,’ Janet said quietly. ‘I was happy with the way things were; to have changed them would have put added pressures on us—pressures I felt were unnecessary. So you see, Liam, I do know what I’m talking about when I say William was only ever like a father to Juliet.’ She smiled ruefully at him again.

      Juliet could see that Liam found the relationship between his father and Janet difficult to understand, and she had to admit that it wasn’t something she could have accepted in a relationship herself. But, as Janet had rightly made clear, it had been their relationship, and they had obviously both been happy with it.

      Liam frowned across the room at the housekeeper. ‘But when he died you were left with nothing,’ he pointed out impatiently. ‘A wife in everything but name!’ He shook his head disgustedly. ‘It may have been your decision, Janet, but the outcome is totally unacceptable. To me, at least.’ He looked frowningly at Juliet.

      She swallowed hard. ‘I—’

      ‘Now don’t either of you feel concerned about the way William’s will was worded,’ Janet interrupted dismissively. ‘I knew about it, we talked about it; he wanted you both to have what was left to you. And William provided for me a long time ago,’ she explained softly. ‘I’m well taken care of, believe me,’ she added as Juliet still looked concerned and Liam frowned darkly.

      ‘But—’

      ‘This isn’t what’s important, Liam,’ Janet said firmly, cutting into his protest. ‘That situation was dealt with long ago, to the satisfaction of everyone involved. I only mentioned it because it’s relevant to Simon. And the night he died,’ she added quietly, giving Juliet a concerned look.

      Juliet stiffened as Simon was brought back into the conversation. She didn’t want to talk about him now—wasn’t ready to talk about him. Would never be ready to talk about him. Especially to Liam!

      She stood up abruptly. ‘Janet, I—’

      ‘Liam has to know the truth, Juliet,’ the older woman told her regretfully. ‘Too much damage has been done already. Both of you have to let the past go. And the only way to do that is to talk about it.’

      Juliet was having trouble breathing. To talk about the past would bring it all back, and it had taken her such a long time to control the pain that it gave her.

      ‘William, as usual, was with me the night Simon died,’ Janet continued determinedly. ‘We both heard the screams,’ she added emotionally.

      Liam frowned. ‘What screams?’

      Juliet knew what screams. She had had nightmares for months afterwards and had woken up in the night to the sound of the same screams. Her own…

      ‘Janet, please…!’ she said brokenly, her breathing ragged, tears clogging her throat.

      The older woman shook her head. ‘I can’t remain silent any longer, Juliet. It would be wrong. Too many people have already been hurt. And now you’re running away—’

      ‘Running away?’ Liam echoed sharply, looking at Juliet with narrowed eyes. ‘What do you mean?’ he prompted Janet.

      ‘Juliet’s suitcases are upstairs,’ she explained. ‘She was about to leave when you arrived home.’

      Liam was still looking at Juliet. ‘You were going to leave without even telling me?’

      She moistened dry lips. ‘I was going to tell you this evening, but—’

      ‘But for some reason you changed your mind,’ he derided harshly.

      She had changed her mind because she had heard him discussing his affair with someone else! She loved this man, and leaving him was the last thing she wanted to do, but what choice did she have?

      ‘Yes,’ she acknowledged heavily. ‘I changed my mind.’

      His mouth tightened angrily. ‘You—’

      ‘Liam, seven years ago, on the night he died, Simon tried to rape Juliet!’ Janet burst in agitatedly.

      Juliet felt the colour fade from her cheeks. No one had ever…No one had ever said those words before.

      Simon had tried to rape her.

      ‘NOW do you understand?’ Janet said impatiently to Liam as she rushed to Juliet’s side, helping her to sit back down in the chair.

      ‘It’s all right, Juliet,’ she soothed gently, sitting on the arm of the chair to hold her in her arms. ‘We should have talked so long ago.’ She cradled Juliet in her arms as the tears began to flow. ‘William thought it best if I left you to deal with it in your own way. But you haven’t dealt with it. How could you, after what Simon did?’ Her voice sharpened angrily with an anger directed towards the man who had hurt Juliet in this way.

      What Janet had said had hurt her, had brought back all the memories of that awful night, but what had really hit her so hard was Liam’s reaction to it. She had been looking at him when Janet had made her statement, and his initial response had been a look of total disgust! She had no idea what had followed on from that; she hadn’t been able to look at him again.

      What was he thinking? That she must have encouraged Simon, led him on, teased him, and then perhaps changed her mind? It hadn’t been anything like that!

      She sat back in the chair, closing her eyes, shutting out the other two people in the room, not wanting to look at either of them. If she didn’t look at them, they couldn’t see into her eyes, into her innermost soul.

      It had been cold and snowy that night seven years ago. She had dined alone with William, the two of them talking about the arrangements for her Christmas wedding to Simon in four weeks’ time, Simon having telephoned earlier to say that he had to go to dinner with a business acquaintance. It had never bothered Juliet when Simon called with these last-minute arrangements; she had accepted that he had a business to help run, and that very often that included being sociable with clients.

      She was lying in bed reading when she heard Simon’s car in the driveway, and the front door opening a couple of minutes

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